


one for sorrow, two for joy

by schweet_heart



Series: Merlin Fic [158]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur Pendragon Returns, Battle of Camlann, Canonical Character Death, Declarations Of Love, First Kiss, M/M, Post-Camlann, Post-Canon Fix-It, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 11:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17043104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schweet_heart/pseuds/schweet_heart
Summary: The birds knew before Merlin did.Written forMerthurDaily's10 Years of Merthur celebration 2018, Day 1: Joy and Sorrow.





	one for sorrow, two for joy

 

**one for sorrow.**

 

The birds knew before Merlin did. On the morning before the king left for Camlann, there was a raven perched outside his chamber window. It watched Merlin with dark eyes as he crossed the courtyard, its shoulders hunched against the wind.

 

 _Soon_ , it said. Its claws dug into the crumbling stonework, as though tightening its grip around someone’s neck. _Soon_.

 

Merlin turned his back on it.

 

 

+

 

 

There were birds on the battlefield, too. Carrion birds, most of them. Merlin picked his way through the bodies, looking for the gleam of sunlight on gold hair, the defiant red of the Pendragon standard. Looking for his king.

 

“What took you so long?” Arthur asked, when Merlin found him. “Where have you _been_?”

 

There was a raven perched on the tree behind him, staring at Merlin with unblinking eyes, and without thinking he reached for a stone to throw at it. The ground at Arthur’s feet was empty, however; his fingers groped blindly over grass. He dropped his head.

 

“I thought I’d be in time,” he whispered. “I thought I’d defied the prophecy.”

 

The bird let out a croak like a laugh and took to the skies, circling above them like a portent.

 

“Just hold me,” Arthur begged.

 

* * *

 

 **two for joy**.

 

The birds knew before Merlin did. He rolled out of bed one morning in summer, hitting the button on his alarm clock, and found two of them squatting outside his window, peering at him with beady eyes.

 

“Get out of here,” he told them, grabbing a discarded shoe and flinging it at the glass. It bounced off and fell to the floor, ineffectual. “Go on! Shoo!”

 

But the birds stayed, watching him.

 

 

+

 

 

He hadn’t strayed far from Camelot, in the end, although the castle itself was nothing more than a ruin. There was a little village nearby that had sprung up in the late sixteen hundreds, and Merlin had kept a house there for several centuries. He didn’t _live_ in it—that would be asking too much—but he visited it occasionally, went down to the lake of Avalon and looked out over the water.

 

So far, he had seen no sign that Kilgharrah had been right, and that Arthur might one day come back to him.

 

But—there were the birds.

 

 

+

 

 

When Arthur eventually emerged from the lake, he was completely soaked and entirely naked. Merlin halted in his rush towards him, suddenly awkward, but Arthur barrelled on and wrapped him in a hug, pressing his face into the softness of Merlin’s hair.

 

“You’re back,” Merlin said, with blank astonishment. “You’re—I can’t believe you’re here.”

 

“Turns out there was a prophecy,” Arthur said, and Merlin could tell he was smirking by the smugness of his voice. “Turns out you’re not done with me just yet.”

 

He pulled back enough to kiss Merlin soundly, cutting him off when he tried to speak. Two ravens circled above them, cawing softly.

 

“Just hold me,” Arthur whispered. “You promised you would.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] one for sorrow, two for joy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18600505) by [brokenfannibal_art (broken_fannibal)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_fannibal/pseuds/brokenfannibal_art)




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